Corona Virus Daily Update

3rd June – Coronavirus – Daily update to all early years, children’s social care, schools and further education providers from the Department for Education.

This is your daily update on the government’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Updated guidance on the actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

We have updated our guidance on the actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to include additional information on the early years entitlements funding and infection prevention and control. We have also added new information on the use of community centres or places of worship as premises for providers on the early years register, before and after school clubs, attendance and information on safeguarding and welfare.

Updated guidance on providing apprenticeships during the coronavirus outbreak

We have updated our guidance on providing apprenticeships during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to include information on which apprentices should be prioritised for face-to-face training from 15 June, and details of the flexibility that enables apprentices to take end-point assessment ahead of receiving their calculated functional skills qualification results.

Updated guidance on what parents and carers need to know about education settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

We have updated our guidance on what parents and carers need to know about schools and other education settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to include information on the curriculum, after school activities, repeating a year for pupils, transport and keeping children safe online. We have also amended information on whether it is compulsory to send pupils to educational settings and education for children at home.

Ofsted to review the online further education experience of students and apprentices during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Ofsted is carrying out an exploratory review of the quality of learners’ experiences of online education in further education and skills settings. Ofsted will carry out the review this month and will speak remotely to managers, teachers and trainers from further education colleges and skills providers who have volunteered to discuss their delivery of online teaching and learning.

The review aims to provide insights into the sector’s experiences of online education and to identify areas of strength and potential for improvement. This will support post-16 providers re-visiting their online education strategies, particularly from September 2020 onwards.

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

8am to 6pm – Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm – Saturday and Sunday

If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the helpline.

Updated handwashing advice

It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.

The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene. E-Bug has published posters on hand hygiene, and covering coughs and sneezes, to display in bathrooms, classrooms and shared spaces.

The hand and respiratory hygiene posters and other educational resources can be found here: